Cleveland Clinic: A Laboratory For Operations Management

Executive Summary

The Cleveland Clinic is one of the nation's leading medical institutions. But like many large and complex organizations, it can be plagued by operational challenges. A couple years ago, surgeons complained that the correct instruments weren't being delivered to the operating room at the right times. This caused delays, patient dissatisfaction, and cancellations. Instead of hiring more people or throwing money at the problem, the manager of the surgical processing department sought an alternative cure to the problem. He worked with the Performance and Service Improvement team at the clinic to examine each step of the process in question: sterilizing, organizing, packing, and delivering surgical instruments.